Reading Notes

January 21, 1998

Nattering on the Net by Dale Spender

This summary was written by Brooke Sams, Janice McCabe, Kim Raimondi, and Kate Wunsch. January 20, 1998.

Dale Spender is a broadcaster, teacher, researcher and editor and author of over 30 books. She has been recognized as an international expert in the fields of language, writing, communication and equality and serves as the Australian representative on many international academic journals. Spender helped create WIKED (Women's International Knowledge Encyclopedia and Data), a database on women. Spender approaches this area of women's education and technological knowledge through a very historical approach. She looks at other educational resources that women have historically been excluded from and studies the effects on the women of the times. As Spender writes on pg 165, "It can be stated without reservation that in the period after the introduction of print, the traditional knowledge of women was all but eliminated." The positions of power for women in the church were lost, removing not only an alternative to marriage, but also a center of women's learning. While male religious training lessened as well, there were other options open to men that were closed to women.
Spender goes on to discuss a gender gap between men and women in the world of computers. She points out that computers were not always viewed as male-only territory, but once they were realized for more than just a word processor, they were snatched into men's domain. Spender connects this 'claim' on computers to the small numbers of women studying computer programming and the larger numbers of boys than girls who own computers. Spender then establishes her main point of this section as computers are no longer an option for women because, "the electronic medium is the way we make sense of the world and this is why women have to be full members of the computer culture." (page 168).

In the section entitled, "Toys for Boys," Spender introduces the idea that the gender gap between girls and boys and the degree to which they use computers has to do with the materials offered to both sexes respectively. The games that are currently available are directed towards, designed by and enjoyed by males. Spender introduces the obvious conclusion that since the materials are not suitable for, or to the liking of women, why would women even want to participate under the current conditions? Importantly, Spender points out that for many young girls, participating in the available games would entail a change in their value system, to become more receptive to what a man would be entertained by.
Spender points out in the next section that the gender gap may be exacerbated by the very way that women and men view computers. Men typically see computers as a toy, as something to brag about, to compare speed, size and capability. Women see computers as an object of convenience, a way to save time and reduce workload, like any other household appliance.
In the next section of her article, "Writing the Road Rules," Spender sees the monopoly of internet communication by men as simply an extension of the real world. Central to this are her assertions that, "men talk more often..., men define the topic, assume the legitimacy of their own view, and override women who do not see the world in their terms." The rules of communication on the internet have been written by, for, and are practiced by men. When women try to intervene they are often intimidated out of the arena or labeled as pushy or obnoxious. As a result, many women have tried to establish forums where women are in charge of the conversation. However, even here, where women are more knowledgeable, men monopolize the discussion. Another problem with women-run sites is that they are likely to be labeled sexist and to attract flaming and abuse. Many men further accuse women of trying to exclude them from contributing and cite an imfringement on their freedom of speech.
In writing the rules of the road, men have created an arena where even mixed-sex communication is not the norm or accepted. As Spender notes, "The discourse is male; the style is adversarial. The premises are winning or losing... the virtual reality is one where aggression, intimidation and plain macho-mode prevail."
Spender sees little chance of a reversal of the current behavior and rules and little reason why women would want to participate with them. However, as time moves on and the world moves more towards internet communication, women have fewer options about whether or not they will participate. An increasing majority of the world's business, education, entertainment and consumerism are conducted on-line; women cannot afford to stay away.

Spender goes on to discuss the type and prevalence of sexual harassment that occurs on the NET. She relates this harassment to the types of behaviors displayed by men in predominantly male-only computer science courses. She suggests that public policy should begin to address this issue. However, she fails to mention the fact that despite laws against sexual harassment, it still persists in the real world as well. It seems naive to believe that making sexual harassment on the NET illegal will serve to eliminate it. Spender does recognize however the logistical problems in policing sexual harassment on the NET. Spender believes that women should learn how to protect themselves in cyberspace, just as they have in the real world.
Her criticism of pornography available on the NET seems well-intentioned but nevertheless one-sided. No one would disagree that children should have no access to such materials. However, she fails to acknowledge the fact that enforcing policies against pornography on the NET is harder than it seems. Spender believes that interactive porn is more damaging and offensive to women, in that the men not only objectify the women, they manipulate and control them. She alludes to the fact that it would seem impossible for a woman to feel at home in an environment full of pronography and harassment.

Women should feel safe and comfortable on the net because it has the possibility to be an egalitarian space. There are many women who are proficient in and optimistic about the internet; therefore, we know that females are not incompetent or incapable. Many women are introduced to the internet by a friend; in many ways the net is a part of women's social world. Strict women-only networks are possible on the net, but are hard to maintain. The internet also makes it possible to disguise or switch genders because of the non-face to face nature of the computer. This raises problems for some people because conversation topics, body language, and voice tone change according to the sex of the other person in the conversation. Both men and women can benefit from this "anonymity" because they can experience the other gender's world on the net.